A bicycle holder of the kind described above conventionally comprises an elongate profiled carrier intended to be positioned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and to be fastened to a first and a second load-carrier rail, said rails being attached to the vehicle roof, often close to the lateral vehicles edges.
Usually, the bicycle holder is initially fastened by means of the elongate profiled carrier and thereafter the bicycle is fastened to the profiled carrier. The fastening devices could be of a variety of different kinds. One common construction of bicycle holders comprises a profiled carrier arranged so as to be clamped about the front and the rear load-carrier, and a stay means, which is pivotally fastened to the front load-carrier rail. In this position, the stay means may be pivoted upwards and be attached to the frame of the bicycle, and thereafter the bicycle may be transported in an upright position. However, this operation usually is complicated, because it is necessary first to attach the profiled carrier to a load-carrier or equivalent means. Thereafter, the bicycle must be positioned in the holder and be held in position while the stay means is pivoted upwards and is locked to the frame. In addition, the construction suffers from the disadvantage of not being sufficiently tamper-proof, since a potential bicycle thief could easily remove the bicycle along with the bicycle holder attached thereto from the vehicle roof. Moreover, the bicycle holder itself could be wrongfully removed from the vehicle roof when the bicycle holder is empty. Consequently, a separate locking device need be provided to lock the bicycle holder to the vehicle.